Feature > Artist Jan Sawka

The Towers by Jan Sawka
By Beth Elaine Wilson . Illustrations by Jan Sawka. Photo by Roy Gumpel .

We have an international visionary in our midst.

Jan Sawka (SAV-ka), Polish-born artist, designer, and architect, has lived in High Falls for almost two decades, but no moss has grown beneath his feet. Traveling the world, he has found patrons, collaborators and technological support for his wide-ranging multi-media projects, which resist simple categorization by medium or theme.

The Tower of Light, a project envisioned for Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, represents a huge technological challenge. Over 100 meters high, and only 7 meters across, this narrow ribbon will be sheathed in glass. In the center will be a continuous band of hi-tech plasma glass that will appear clear during the daytime but at night will come to life with the psychedelic projection of Sawka’s signature vivid colors and ever-morphing abstract forms, accompanied by music based on traditional Arabic motifs.

Given the fierce environmental demands on such a work built in the desert, however, one of the largest challenges lies in simply protecting the delicate electronics so that it can operate. The intense daytime temperatures will be buffered by an outer sheathing of thermal glass, while the outer surface itself will be protected from scratches caused by the incessantly blowing sand by an advanced coating just now being perfected. (Apparently the windows in the hotels and other modern buildings in Abu Dhabi are currently replaced every five years, simply because they become too gray to see through from this abrasion.)

The project advances a complementary set of various interests—the royal family of the uae will gain a monument to the modern cultural advancement of their country; the Sumitomo Corporation will have a premier demonstration piece of their technologically advanced materials available for use in other, more mundane applications; and the artist will have the opportunity to push through all previous limits to realize yet another spectacular multi-media work that incorporates his restless creativity in a combination of architecture, graphic design, and music in a new type of “total art work” (gesamtkunstwerk), an environmental approach that seeks to envelope the viewer in the full art experience.

Sawka is also engaged in a somewhat less technically challenging but symbolically more complex project for the city of Essen, Germany. Located in the industrial center of the country, Essen was founded by the riches derived from mining and steel making, industries that have since been displaced by corporate headquarters and high-tech fabrication plants. For this project, Sawka has planned a series of four towers, spanning the old city-center, and programmatically linked to Essen’s past, present, and future.

Each obelisk-like tower will, like the Tower of Light in Abu Dhabi, stand mutely during the day. After night falls, however, a symbolic light show will enliven the skyline.

The first tower, dedicated to coal and steel, will be built with what looks like a bright red erector-set, the structural elements of the tower defining its external appearance. The center holds a black rod of graphite glass, which glows when bombarded by neutrons. Stacks of digital lights frame the top and bottom of the rod, all of which will begin to glow red to initiate the firing sequence of the towers. As the evening progresses, lasers will shoot from this tower to the others, igniting the unique light-show contained in each in sequence.

Tower number two is dedicated to (electrical) energy, number three to light, and the culmination of the sequence comes with the fourth, dedicated to the future. As in Abu Dhabi, this tower will include a plasma-glass projection that comes to life with painterly abstractions, colors eating other colors, in a vivid, moving column of light. After each of the towers has been kindled, their respective light shows build in rhythm and intensity, reaching a crescendo after about 20 minutes, at which point they will slow down and power off in a temporary “death,” leaving only the lasers connecting them at their apexes, at which point the whole sequence will begin again.
Apparently “eternal” images like the pyramid have a life only because they are constantly re-invented by each generation, re-invested with meaning that is always at least partly inflected by the particular cultural context in which it is being understood. The term “visionary” is one that we reserve for those who have the gift of taking up the standards of the past, while not remaining enslaved to them, those who have the capacity to imagine a world of meaning beyond anything yet dreamt of. Jan Sawka is one such visionary whose majestic multi-media explorations refreshingly incorporate global ideas and influences—without falling into the totalitarian trap of becoming globalizing, of believing that they are the final word in what is possible.

Born in Poland in 1946, Jan Sawka studied a broad range of artistic disciplines. His pursuits included architecture, design, painting, and printmaking, founding his strongly interdisciplinary path. While still a student, he became active in the underground cultural movements that opposed the totalitarian Soviet government in Poland, and got involved in designing theatrical sets and posters.

While respecting his tremendous talent, the Polish authorities could not tolerate Sawka’s free (and often subversive) spirit for long, and forced Sawka to emigrate to Paris with his wife, Hanna, and their infant daughter. After a residency at the Pompidou Center, Sawka moved with his family in 1997 to the United States, where he has lived ever since. During the crisis period of martial law in Poland, Sawka designed a poster supporting the Solidarnosc union movement, which was printed by the thousands by the AFL-CIO and distributed around the world to help inspire global solidarity with the Polish workers.

He has exhibited in New York galleries, designed the stage sets for the Grateful Dead’s 25th Anniversary tour, drawn illustrations for the New York Times Op-Ed page, and has received numerous medals and awards for his graphic design and multi-media projects at art biennales throughout the world. Examples of Sawka’s work can be viewed at www.jansawka.com.

Art directed and conceptualized by Carla Rozman and Jan Sawka